


Confession

by say_im_good



Category: B.A.P
Genre: M/M, Seven Deadly Sins, not-really-the-apocalypse-apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 06:19:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11845725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/say_im_good/pseuds/say_im_good
Summary: The air charred at his throat, polluted with ash, and the light from the moon glowed red as blood. Daehyun could feel his heart pulsing in his chest, panting violently as his lungs swelled and suffocated it, and even as he lay dying on the streets that he condemned himself on, his mind could only wander to whether Youngjae was also dying like this on the other side of the city, thinking about him in return.





	Confession

On November the tenth, he hadn’t believed in anything even remotely paranormal. With essays and interviews swallowing his schedule, Daehyun never gave himself the time to consider things like this. His life was too busy to consider anything beyond it's everyday boundaries, anything more than deadlines and saying the right things to the right people. When he grew old, retiring comfortably with the substantial amount of money awarded to these hard days, he figured he'd be able to worry about what was coming in the next few years. But he was young right now, and if money didn’t come first, money wouldn’t come at all.

 

It was a colder day, he remembered because the photo Youngjae had sent him pictured the younger man with flushed cheeks and a fluffy scarf, the message ‘Stay warm, it’s cold as hell out here’ cast over the photographer’s puffy face. Daehyun had always admired the way Youngjae’s regularly foul language completely contrasted his soft face, but then again, Daehyun had always admired really everything about Youngjae.

 

Colder, but not freezing, the air was crisp but no snow had sprinkled down yet. Daehyun constantly tipped his head upward in search for a flake or two to announce the coming of more, but the walk to the studio was bland and uninteresting, and he arrived with little of the inspiration that he usually gained from taking the short trip to work on foot.

 

He remembered that it had been a cold day, because it stung a little to lean his cheek against the window beside his cubicle, scrolling through Youngjae’s past texts and smiling with no modesty once so ever, the line flashing on his computer indicating a blank first page. He was rarely reprimanded at work for procrastinating; His essays were always submitted by the due date, and no matter how quickly they were written, they were always considered to be some of the best quality writings in the company. This particular essay was supposed to be about global warming, how it was affecting the planet more drastically than many people believed, an ‘eye-opener’ type document. He wondered if the readers would find themselves as absorbed in his writing if they knew that most of it was spewed out and complete in two hours while his mind drifted to something a little more important in his eyes.

 

Five hours with little to no progress was common, and no one said a word as Daehyun excused himself to take a walk, a second chance for the world to give him something useful to put into an essay that he hardly cared about. His phone buzzed the moment he slipped past the glassy sliding doors, and it was between his fingers in a heartbeat, thumbs seizing out a message before he could hardly read what the received one had said. Thankfully, all of Youngjae’s messages were rather short and to the point, and only usually took a passing glance to absorb.

 

‘It’s boring here.’

 

Daehyun had met Youngjae at a college party before they had both eventually dropped out to pursue their current careers. Cha Hakyeon, now Daehyun’s operations manager, had been the host, bragging off about his money, his home, his car, his parties, everything that he could. No one was really stupid enough to insult the host of the party they were attending, but Youngjae had easily been smart enough to get away with it, and Daehyun was the only one smiling after the younger had with snakelike ease slithered right past Hakyeon’s bravado without angering the host into kicking him out. When the younger student had noticed Daehyun’s broad grin in his direction, he’d only smirked himself, haughty and proud, and that was when Daehyun knew that this person was one that would remain in his life for a while.

 

They had already made out by the time the sun rose that morning, clothes wrinkled and hair mussed, Youngjae’s lips swollen and red. Daehyun didn’t see him for a month after that, despite their promises to meet again much, much sooner. Youngjae had no trouble admitting that this distance was intentional; After all, Youngjae had a boyfriend.

 

Yongguk was at the time and in present day one of the sweetest people Daehyun had the unease to come across. All fluffy hair and silly smiles, he focused his spare time into food kitchens and spending every penny that didn’t go to bills on Youngjae. They’d met for the first time at a shopping mall downtown a month after Daehyun had pinned Youngjae to Hakyeon’s bed. Yongguk’s deep, friendly voice echoed deeply in his memory just like it had echoed like a bomb in his heart that day. ‘Oh, you know my Jaejae?’  Daehyun was the one that avoided Youngjae for a month after that. ‘I’m sorry,’ Youngjae had said, tone all too dull to sound considerate despite how Daehyun had faith in the words anyway, trying to distract the unease by focusing on the coffee mug gradually growing cold between his hands. 'He’s sweet, but…'

 

And from then on, it had continued to be ‘buts.’ Hakyeon swore that Daehyun had no shame when he caught the love note scribbled on perfume scented paper labelled with Youngjae’s name, but Daehyun had promised that this would be harmless. Youngjae had made excuse after excuse about how he still loved Yongguk, he just needed more, but Daehyun figured that there was no need to disguise the shame that he obviously felt for betraying someone so kind. Daehyun sometimes wondered if he should feel ashamed as well, but he could never pressure himself into believing that loving Youngjae could be wrong, even if it very much was.

 

His phone buzzed. ‘Yongguk is at another event. I’m bored.’  He typed out a shorter response (‘I know’) before pocketing his phone, knowing that he’d just pull the device back out once the younger sent another text but trying to give the impression that he was actually on this walk for work, for inspiration. It was quiet, most of the people who usually brought the streets to life having work or school of their own to attend to around this time, and Daehyun stared more at the sky than at his actual surroundings. His phone buzzed again. He read this text three times before the message really stuck.

 

‘I suddenly have a bad feeling.’  

 

Daehyun slowed, but didn’t stop, fingers flying across the small screen. Youngjae’s intuition was probably the closest thing to the paranormal that he would ever believe in, saying that it had saved their lives before when the younger had on a whim said that he didn’t feel safe, pulling Daehyun from the convenience store they were in a mere ten minutes before an armed robbery occurred in that very same store. It had helped with smaller things as well, but he found himself trusting Youngjae’s instinct enough to decide to head back to the studio. ‘What do you think’s causing it?’ he asked, knowing the answer before it even popped up on his screen, the simple ‘I don’t know’ that always appeared when he asked something too probing or requiring too deep of a thought. Youngjae was smart enough to comprehend and provide a much more detailed answer, but Youngjae also was around Yongguk enough to probably be tired of deep questions and emotional probing. Daehyun didn’t mind it much anyway.

 

It had been a cold day, he remembered it by how a single snowflake dripped from the sky, fluttering down on its lonesome, gently dissolving into the water of the river. It had been a cold day, and Daehyun remembered by how cold the asphalt was beneath his knees as he suddenly collapsed midstep onto the walker's bridge, grasping at his throat as he parted his lips to inhale and no air would enter his lungs, as a silent, breathless scream tore through his entire being at how his leg suddenly and violently pulsed with fire and agony beyond his comprehension. It ended as quickly as it had started, and as he lay on the bridge over the river, he found himself trembling to something much more worrisome than the cold.

 

In those simple times, he had gathered himself enough to roll up the leg of his pants, positive that the pain had been caused by a sprain, even a break. Maybe he had tripped on something and become dazed, maybe he had gotten his foot caught in something, and maybe's along this line couldn’t describe why three other people were also on the ground nearby, but it was all that he could comprehend at the time. The confusion had left him numb and blank minded as his eyes had focused on a deep red circle cast just above his ankle like a tattoo, a strange pattern decorating the center. And someone who never gave the paranormal a passing thought was left without a conclusion as to how between his shower that morning and this aching moment, this ‘tattoo’ had appeared.

 

His phone buzzed, and his hands were trembling so hard that he dropped the device, not even having stood back up yet as he was too anxious in the moment to do so, more focused on the comfort and security he found through Youngjae’s texts. This was the first time he found his heart falling further at what he read, at what made no sense at all.

 

‘I don’t know what the hell just happened but I’m scared, there’s this red mark on my leg and had hurt really bad and I couldn’t breathe for a while and-’

He stopped reading because Youngjae never ranted and he couldn’t really comprehend the other doing so without bringing himself into a similar panic. ‘It happened to me too,’ he typed quickly, having to backspace almost every half second with how his fingers trembled, feeling suddenly stiff and thick, ‘I don’t know what it was, it came out of nowhere. I’m sure it’s just-’ Just...

 

Just… what? This was when he began to think for the first time, slowly leaning back against the guardrail that stung at his neck with the ice cast over the bars. Because nothing could’ve stamped both of their legs that fast when Youngjae was on the other side of the city. Because other people were on the ground too, panting, holding their legs or staring with similar confusion at their bare ankles and calves, stained with red. Daehyun dragged his finger across the mark. It stung like a bee sting to touch, sore and uncomfortable, but he did it anyway, trying in halfhearted denial to rub it off with no success. It didn’t make sense. This kept repeating in his mind, and he ignored the buzz of his phone to focus on pulling himself to his feet, legs trembling under his weight as if they couldn’t handle the gravity that had been pressing down on them for the past twenty three years.

 

He could see the doors to his studio from the bridge, but it still took over five minutes to actually reach them and cross into the heated building, trembling and becoming genuinely afraid as the initial shock was fading away. He hadn’t found the strength to take more than eight steps at a time without needing a break or collapsing. Inside the building he had had a small hope that things would be business as normal, a world of safety in the comfort of repetition that he always relied on when he came to the studio, ready to do the same thing that he always did when he came here, which was simply writing or pretending like he was planning to.

 

Inside the building, over half of the employees and guests in the lobby were either on the floor or laying sloppily on the sofas, professionalism cast aside with panic and shock. Daehyun noted red on the ankle of a slim woman who was trembling, continually asking ‘What was that? What was that?’ in the same tone over and over in a mantra that only added to the discomfort. A few people were standing, either that or kneeling over the people on the floor, asking ‘What? What happened..?! What’s wrong?!’ It was all so unreal, and Daehyun still couldn’t confirm to himself that this wasn’t a dream, that he wouldn’t wake up in his bed with the sheets all wrinkled and strewn on the floor just like Youngjae had left them the night before. He more limped than walked further into the building, through the astrewn lobby towards where the offices were on the first floor, vision so clear that it was unsettling, the confused, panicked preamble to chaos ringing in his ears like warning chimes.

 

He fell to his knees beside Hakyeon, who was curled up on the floor beside the cubicle adjacent to the door, staring up at Daehyun with wide, ghostly eyes. “Did… Did you feel that too..?” It had been a while since Hakyeon had seemed this young, always trying to present himself as older and in control, and it snapped Daehyun out of his trance somewhat as he muttered, “Yeah… Do you have the red thing? On your ankle...?” The elder slowly reached for his pants leg, but his hands were shaking too violently to close into a grip, and Daehyun’s patience had run out in his fear as he pulled up the fabric himself to reveal a similar circular mark engraved into Hakyeon's tanned skin like a tattoo.

 

“What is that…? Where did it come from?” Hakyeon whispered, as if something could hear them, as if making too much noise would provoke the panic into full out havoc. “I don’t know, but look,” Daehyun breathed as he showed his own mark, only just realizing as they were side to side that they were different patterns, his own consisting more of curved lines while Hakyeon’s was of a more angular take. It made no sense, but he could worry about that later. For now, it was about figuring out what the hell had happened, reasonable or not. He slipped out his phone, almost swiping away Youngjae’s notification before pausing and deciding to check it quickly, swallowing tightly as the message box was full of observations.

 

‘I’m on sixth street and it’s crazy here, people are screaming and freaking out, I don’t know what to do.’

 

‘What if it happens again? What the hell even WAS it anyway..?! I can’t rub it off….’

 

‘Yongguk won’t answer me, I don’t know if he’s okay, I’m scared’

 

‘Daehyun, are you okay?’

 

‘Please answer, you always answer, please’

 

“I’m okay, just trying to figure out what happened. I promise I’m here.” After sending the message and watching the ‘read’ mark appear, he fell to the internet and tapped immediately as the ‘Urgent News’ tab on his phone’s screen flashed yellow. Hakyeon pulled him closer by the arm absentmindedly and he fell back against the cubicle, the two grown businessmen sitting on the floor in the corner, huddled around the small smartphone. A man was speaking, speaking about what they had both experienced, and they held their breaths to better hear his words as if the video wasn’t already playing at full volume.

 

“The entire city is in a panic as it seems over half the population experienced the same unexplainable phenomenon. Reports are flooding into emergency hotlines, and the police department requests that these calls are reserved for actual, physical emergencies. We received a report only moments ago and it seems like this terrifying event is happening not only city-wide, but world-wide, as reports are also pouring in from the United States, China, England, and a number of other countries. Doctors, psychiatrists, and scientists of various emergency programs are working at this moment to find the exact cause for this random and seemingly unexplainable issue, but no one has come through with an answer as of this time.”

 

Daehyun paused the video as the man began to speak again, figuring they had heard all that they needed to hear, being that no one actually knew what was going on, just that it was happening everywhere. He slowly glanced down at his leg again, at the red circle dauntingly staring back at him, the pattern inside of the circumference dancing and swimming in various circular forms. Hakyeon’s voice was soft and frail, muttering once more the words that the world echoed simultaneously, “I don’t understand.” They wouldn’t have been able to comprehend it until later, but Daehyun recalled this moment as being the beginning of the end.


End file.
